Across the world there are 48 FinTech unicorns with an aggregate value at $187bn. India has two FinTech unicorns, Policy Bazaar and Paytm. Whereas, China has 4 FinTech unicorns.

China witnessed a new 5 quarter low of 15 deals, down 81% from Q2’18. 79 FinTech deals were executed in Q2’18 whereas, Q2’19 only 15 deals took place.

India too witnessed a drop in FinTech deals but not as wide as China did. In Q2’18, 27 FinTech deals were executed, whereas in Q2’19, only 23 deals were executed.

In Q2’18 Indian FinTechs raised $254mn & FinTechs in China raised raised $1,453mn. Whereas, in Q2’19 Indian FinTechs raised $350mn and FinTechs in China raised $375mn. Despite a fall in the number of deals China was ahead in terms of funding value.

The most active FinTech VCs from Q2’18 – Q2’19 were 500startups, a16z, Ribbit Capital, Accel, Salesforce ventures, QED Investors, Beenext among other VCs. Most active criterion is based on unique investments in FinTechs either new or follow-on investments.

One interesting fact the report highlights is, challenger banks or digital only banks were ahead in taking up multi-million dollar rounds to power global expansion and customer acquisition. Challenger banks across countries, rose $649M across 17 deals.

NuBank, a mobile only challenger bank, raised Series F $400m at valuation of $10bn. NuBank based in Brazil has been expanding in the Latin American region by focusing on unbanked and underbanked population. Mexico seems to be a strong turf for challenger banks or mobile only banks with players like Albo, Fondeadora, Nubank & Uber in the race to acquire the larger share of the market.

The sandbox affords a valuable learning experience, allowing them to keep pace with technological advancements and new business models that may not conveniently fit into the existing regulatory framework.

"Impact is positive...last year, the government had merged Bank of Baroda with Dena and Vijaya, the platform is ours," Infosys Finacle Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales Venkatramana Gosavi said.

Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency suffered another setback on Wednesday when Switzerland said the proposed payments system could face strict rules that typically apply to banks, on top of tough anti-money laundering laws.

Online insurance sales for new business, which are in a nascent stage in the country, are fast catching up and are likely to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent to become a Rs 2.6 trillion ($37 billion) opportunity by 2025, according to a recent report by JM Financial.